Both sides exploit immigrants like things. Catholics cannot

[Michie]

In January 1948, a plane crashed in central California's Los Gatos Canyon, killing 28 migrant farm workers and four flight crew members. Newspaper accounts provided the names of the crew members, but referred to the 28 migrant workers, who had been ordered deported to Mexico, simply as "Mexicans" or "deportees." The migrant workers -- the deportees -- were buried anonymously in a mass grave, nameless and forgotten. They were not treated as human beings, but as "illegal aliens." They weren't persons, but statistics.

This plane crash motivated folk singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie to write perhaps his second-most famous song (after "This Land is Your Land"), "Deportee: Plane Wreck at Los Gatos." The song has been recorded by many artists over the years, including, Judy Collins, The Kingston Trio, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith and The Byrds. Guthrie protested the dehumanizing way that the migrant workers were treated, including failure even to acknowledge their names:

"Goodbye to my Juan, goodbye Rosalita,
Adios mis amigos, Jesus y Maria;
You won't have your names when you ride the big airplane,
All they will call you will be 'deportees.'"

Continued below.

Both sides exploit immigrants like things. Catholics cannot

We need comprehensive immigration reform that considers the humanity of immigrants and the well-being of the receiving community.

www.oursundayvisitor.com